Main menu

Post navigation

I is for Insects, and other spineless wonders. #MelaleucaMiscellany

Trigger warning – giant hairy spiders ahead. May also contain traces of sandflies. To ease you into this, here’s a cuddly wuddly caterpillar!

So fluffy! Don’t you just want to pick it up and cuddle it?

I should probably begin this post by stating that I am pretty much insect illiterate (although before someone points this out, yes, I know spiders aren’t insects, but they are spineless, hence their VIP status in this post).

I am told by someone who sounded authoritative that this ornate-looking thing is a stick caddis. If it isn’t, and it is, as I suspect, some kind of fancy new chocolate truffle, do please let me know.

Moth is convinced it is totes invisiballs. My use of the macro setting on my new camera is so bad, it may as well be.

Insects like me. A lot.

Sandflies in particular think they are my special friends. Within a couple of days of arrival at Melaleuca, I looked like some kind of poorly-executed public education campaign on the virtues of vaccination. Don’t let that put you off though – I am a delicate little flower. I also stupidly spent hours sitting stolidly in a cloud of march flies, sandflies and mosquitoes, observing the comings and goings of birds from nest boxes and taking notes on them for science. Learn from my experiences – do not do this! Also, smear yourself in that deadly looking DEET-impregnated insect repellant. I hear that can also be effective – having it in bottles in your first aid kit is apparently not enough.

Everyone knows that spiders love toilets. I deliberately left spider webs in the toilets (sorry Parks!), to protect visitors from something much scarier than spiders…

March flies! They are so annoyance. Get it, toilet spider!

Grisly detail of spider march fly take down. Fun fact – galaxias (adorable, tiny native fish that live in the creek) really like eating march flies. If you accidentally swat one and it falls in the water, this can trigger tiny wildlife carnage. You know that nasty clip where killer whales get hold of a hapless seal? It’s like that, but in micro.